1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an iron golf club head and an iron golf club, and particularly to an iron golf club head having a badge portion adhered to a head portion, and an iron golf club.
2. Description of the Background Art
In recent golf clubs, not only wood golf clubs but also iron golf clubs require high restitution. In order to achieve an iron golf club with high restitution, reducing the thickness of a face is proposed. Since reducing the thickness of the face leads to increase in deflection of the face, a louder hitting sound is generated from the face. A recent research shows that a hitting feeling of the iron golf club is affected by the hitting sound, and also shows that some golfers feel that the hitting feeling decreases as the hitting sound becomes louder. The recent research also shows that some golfers feel that the hitting feeling is improved as the resonant time of the hitting sound becomes longer, and the hitting feeling decreases as the resonant time of the hitting sound becomes shorter.
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2010-148565, for example, discloses a golf club head having an adherend bonded to a back surface. This adherend can absorb vibrations generated at the time of hitting. This adherend has a shape obtained by scaling down a planar shape of the back surface, and is bonded to a central portion of the back surface.
In the aforementioned golf club head, the adherend covers the central portion of the back surface largely, and thus, the vibrations generated at the time of hitting are greatly absorbed. As a result, the hitting sound level (sound pressure) decreases greatly. However, along with the hitting sound level (sound pressure), the resonant time of the hitting sound also decreases greatly. Therefore, the hitting feeling decreases because the resonant time of the hitting sound decreases.